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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24090199">Merlin (TV) according to Ao3</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Need_To_Comment_Rising/pseuds/Need_To_Comment_Rising'>Need_To_Comment_Rising</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Merlin (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Attempt at Humor, But I've read lots and lots of fanfics, Does my idea resemble reality?, Gen, Have I learned anything?, I have never watched Merlin, Inspired by Fanfiction, Meta, Metafiction, My First AO3 Post</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:27:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24090199</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Need_To_Comment_Rising/pseuds/Need_To_Comment_Rising</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A long time ago, I got sucked into the Merlin fandom and I started reading a lot of Merlin fanfiction. The catch? I have never watched the original series. So I thought it might be fun to post what I think the series looks like, from what I've gathered all these years. Is it accurate in any way shape or form? You tell me!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. What I actually know for sure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>What says on the tin. I don't remember how I got into Merlin fanfiction, but it happened, and I've been hooked ever since. I've tried watching the series, once, but I only got 5 episodes in, so I'm not sure it counts for much. For obvious reasons, I usually go for AU fanfics, so that is an additional difficulty! I'll try to make it as funny as I can, but I swear to stick to what I think the series looks like, no obvious errors to make this more exciting.</p><p>English is not my native language and this is un-betaed, so feel free to tell me if something sounds weird/is not proper English!</p><p>Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As I said on the notes, I didn't come into this fandom <em>completely </em>blind. I did watch a couple of episodes before I decided that it was way too silly for me (how does nobody notice Merlin is doing magic?? He's not exactly subtle!). So, for fairness sake, here is what I actually know (or, at least, what I remember from having watched 5 episodes something like six years ago).</p><p> </p><p>-This series is a fanfiction of the Arthurian legends that does its own thing so hard that it would get hatemail on Ao3 from hardcore fans for being too OOC. Uther Pendragon is alive, Arthur has grown up in the palace knowing he's the rightful Prince, Morgana is now his <em>sister </em>(which, knowing that in the original legends she <em>sleeps with him and has his kid</em>, eww) and Merlin is around Arthur's age for improved sass and homoerotic possibilities. Guenevieve is now called Gwen, and she's Morgana's servant.</p><p>- Although Arthur's father is alive, his mother is not (taking a page from Disney, aren't you, BBC?). Her death has had something to do with magic, and Uther has gone a little overboard and banned all magic from his kindgom, Footloose style. The penalty for using magic is death, no questions asked.</p><p>- In a singularly stupid move, Merlin, an amazingly powerful sorcerer with very little control over his magic, decides to move to Camelot and start working at the palace under the direct vision of the guy with the famous hatred for magic and the power to burn him on the stake. He immediately attracts attention to himself and ends up as Arthur's manservant. They hate each other. Cue banter and sass.</p><p>- There is a dragon in the sewers, and apparently he's a shipper? He tells Merlin that he has to protect Arthur because of Destiny, or something.</p><p>-Merlin consistently uses magic in front of everyone to solve small issues and/or to save Arthur's life. <strong>Nobody notices his eyes turning gold, or him speaking in weird tongues, or strange things happening whenever he's around.</strong> Conclusion: everyone in Camelot is blind, deaf and stupid. Lancelot notices, but he immediately leaves so it changes nothing to the plot.</p><p>And that's more or less all I remember.</p><p><strong>Edit: </strong>I forgot about this one because one look at the fandom and I discovered that I was wrong, so this isn't something I've thought of for years, but when I started watching the series one of my first thoughts was "wait a minute.... Is Gwen <em>Merlin's</em> love interest now????"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. What I've gathered from reading fanfiction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>And now, for the things I've gathered over the years of reading fanfiction, in no particular order.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>- Judging by the sheer amount of "Arthur finds out about Merlin's magic" fics, <strong>Arthur never finds out about Merlin's magic, although he has been saved by it a couple hundred times in increasigly obvious ways.</strong> He maybe discovers his manservant is magical right before he dies, I'm not sure. In any case, he's amazingly oblivious.</p><p>- Of all things Arthurian, they decided to keep the incredibly dark ending of everyone dying because they get betrayed. Arthur dies in Merlin's arms, and it is the moment when he finally confesses his love (not really, but fans like to think of it that way). Mordred is a character here and he's alternatively a bad guy or a reformed bad guy, so I'm not sure if he's the one who betrays them in this version. He's too old to be Arthur's son, though, and hopefully he's not <em>Morgana and Arthur's</em> kid like in the original.</p><p>- Morgana is magic! She's a Seer, she has prophetic nightmares. I don't think Uther takes it very well. She turns evil? She's a good guy in most AUs, so I'd bet on a redemption arc or at least a very sympathetic villain. She seems to try and kill Arthur a few times, so not <em>that </em>nice. Apparently a blonde woman named Morgause is her sister and she's fully evil? Nobody ever talks about Morgause being Arthur's sister, so maybe Morgana isn't related to Arthur after all. Maybe that's what tips her over the edge to fully bad guy? I've seen a few pictures of Morgana in full armour, which inmediately means she's a badass in my eyes.</p><p>- Merlin and Arthur end up liking each other, but they still sass and bully the other on a daily basis. It is a form of foreplay by now. The UST is over the roof, but it never comes to anything. They don't hesitate to die for the other at least on four different occasions, though. But like no homo, just good bros giving their lives for each other in an act of perfectly heterosexual and platonic love.</p><p>- Arthur gets magically roofied at least twice a week.</p><p>- Uther dies, but the kindgom's stance on magic stays the same, because Arthur is kind of a dick. Arthur marries Gwen, but she seems to be shipped with Lancelot a lot, so either she has her canonical affair with him while married, or people just want to get her out of the way to ship Arthur and Merlin with no regrets.</p><p>- Arthur says <em>Mer</em>lin, stressing the first syllable, and Merlin calls Arthur a clotpole (is that even a real insult? or even a real <em>word</em>?). Both those things are very important and are a constant in all fanfics, no matter the time period, the relationship between the two or when it was written.</p><p>- The rest of the Kights of the Round Table turn up eventually, at least some of them. Lancelot comes back and is mostly just very gentlemany. Leon is Arthur's second in command (and maybe his best friend), although I don't remember him existing in the Arthurian legends. He dates Morgana? Is this before she turns evil? After she comes back? Is it a tortured romance because they are on different sides of the conflict? A one-side thing? Is it just shipping? Perceval is tall, strong, big and nice. Gwaine is probably an alcoholic, flirts with everything that moves (including Merlin??) and is all around a funny guy to be around. There is this black guy named Eylan who's Gwen's brother and maybe has magic. Kay, Geraint, Galahad, Hector, Pellinor... don't appear to exist. Perceval and Gwaine get shipped so much that they are either very good friends or have banter comparable to Merthur. Or are together in canon. Are they together in canon??</p><p>-There is a class divide between the Kights, who aren't all noblemen anymore. Lancelot is noble; Leon maybe (not sure, but if he's a childhood friend of Arthur, he must be); Gwaine is from a noble family but said "fuck it" and went rogue to shag everything that moves and get drunk; Perceval is lower class (I've gathered this from the Fake Relationship AUs where Percival gets roped into pretending to be Gwaine's boyfriend at his family's fancy galas, I have good references); Eylan is Gwen's brother so peasant but also the Queen's brother, so I don't know how to clasify him.</p><p>- There is a neighbour king called Cendred. He either has the most redundant surname in human history or the fandom has collectively decided that "King" was a good surname for... a king. He's consistently an asshole in AUs, so I suppose he's an asshole in the original too.</p><p>- I think Merlin is immortal (which would take a bit from the whole "dying for Arthur", but whatever) and has to wait because Arthur will come back to life at some point when Albion (England?) needs him again. So somewhere somehow Merlin is still around after seeing everyone he loves die horribly. God, this shit is <em>dark.</em> Does he also not age, or has he been in a nursing home for the last five hundred years?</p><p>- There are more dragons, and Merlin is the dragon whisperer (Dragonlord?)?? He adopts a small dragon called Airthusa, or something like that? His dad is dead, but also maybe alive and a Dragonlord himself? And has a conspiracy? This part is very confusing. <strong>Also, h</strong><strong>ow does nobody realize the manservant can control dragons??? </strong></p><p>-Gaius has A Very Frightening Eyebrow. That is also constant among time periods and styles. I need for someone to explain to me how that happens.</p><p>- Merlin is Welsh. Like veeery Welsh. Heavily Welsh. His mum lives in a small village called Ealdor (which doesn't sound very Welsh to me?), and his best mate Will likes (is dating?) a girl called Freya who can turn into a monster. He's the only one who has noticed the whole "golden eyes and making things levitate" issue and he keeps Merlin's magic a secret. He may have died taking the blame for something Merlin did? That's harsh...</p><p>- There are Druids? And they are the Big Bad antagonists? But also the guardians of Nature? Are they the ones who kidnap Morgana and make her go bad? They also seem to have fertility rituals, but I'm pretty sure that's just an excuse for fanfic writers to write orgy PWPs.</p><p>- For some reason, Merlin's eyes shine gold when he does magic, but everyone else's shine red or orange. Which I'll admit, makes them look a lot less cuddly.</p><p>- Fairies are a thing in this universe, or at least something called "the Sidhe". They are Bad and Inhuman, and they try to seduce Arthur using a love spell. <em>How did this guy survive a day before Merlin arrived?</em></p><p>And I think that's all I have. I hope you had a laugh, and I'm waiting to see if I actually got things right!</p>
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